United Airlines Passengers Endure 30-Hour Travel Nightmare

Over 200 passengers aboard a United Airlines flight went through two pilots and were forced to stay seated on the plane for four hours before they landed at their destination in Australia nine hours behind schedule.

The 30-hour travel nightmare began when 251 unsuspecting passengers boarded flight UA 863 from San Francisco to Sydney on Wednesday night, ABC News reported. The flight departed on time and everything was fine until the pilot said the plane would have to be diverted to Canberra, Australia, due to debris on the runway.

The aircraft landed in Canberra at 9 a.m. local time. But the pilot had reached his flying hour limit and was unable to continue to Sydney.

In the meantime, the passengers were forced to stay on the plane because customs and immigration at domestic Canberra Airport were unable to process them, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

"In Canberra but not allowed off the plane," one frustrated passenger, Fabio Calabria, tweeted. His original plan was to fly to Sydney and then travel to Canberra.

"Have to fly back to Sydney the[n] drive back here," he tweeted according to the ABC.

Passengers spent four hours in their seats - not to mention the extra 16 hours flying from San Francisco- until they were finally allowed off the plane. During that time people said the bathrooms ran out of soap and toilet paper.

Passengers were allowed to walk around and were served refreshments once on the tarmac. But they were still stuck there for another four hours until a replacement crew came.

At that point, some who took connecting flights from New York to California had been traveling for over 30 hours.

After eight hours of waiting in Canberra, the second crew finally arrived and the plane departed for Sydney, ABC News reported. It finally landed on Friday nine hours behind schedule at 6 p.m. local time.

Passenger David Defelice told the ABC that airline officials took care of them.

"We're good, the crew was good. They took good care of us, despite the situation."